


Can't See the Greene for the Trees

by Marlex7



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Beth Lives, F/M, Oblivious Maggie Greene, Post-Episode: s05e08 Coda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 08:34:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5532725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marlex7/pseuds/Marlex7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone made it out of the showdown at Grady and the group is on its way north. Maggie is ecstatic to have her sister back, but she may be too close to the situation to realize she isn't the only one really happy Beth is safe. A little angst, mostly fluff and a bit of humor mixed in as well. One-shot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can't See the Greene for the Trees

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Bite Sized Bits of Fic Community on LiveJournal. The prompt was "any. any. can't see the forest for the trees," with a secondary prompt for "outside POV." I hope you enjoy. This is my first attempt at a Walking Dead fanfic. Bethyl is my OTP.

Maggie didn’t see it. In her defense, the idea seemed so unlikely, it simply never occurred to her. Each overheard conversation, each noticed glance, each unexplained encounter was filed away in her mind but they were all mislabeled. By the time the evidence was too much to ignore and she saw the truth, Maggie discovered she was one of the last in the group to see what was really going on between Beth and Daryl.

In the hours and days immediately following the showdown at Grady Memorial, Maggie was too focused on Beth herself and the fact that she had her sister back to notice Daryl and his reaction. 

Maggie was also dealing with the guilt she felt over giving her sister up for dead after the prison fell. Part of it had been a defense mechanism, refusing to hope that the last member of her family made it out alive in case it wasn’t true. Instead she’d focused on Glenn, leaving him messages on the way to Terminus, but never mentioning Beth. But the other part, the one which kept her up at night while Beth slept quietly next her as they made their way northward and away from Atlanta, was that she hadn’t given her sister the credit to have the ability to make it out on her own.

But Beth hadn’t been alone. She was with Daryl. Since Maggie found Daryl, along with Rick, Carl and Michonne at Terminus, the bowman has been tight-lipped about his time with Beth, only saying that he’d lost her to a mysterious car painted with a cross.

On their first full day on the road leaving Atlanta, shortly after they broke camp, Maggie went up to Daryl, thanking him for protecting her baby sister.

Daryl grunted in response, following it up with, “I wasn’t protecting her. We was protecting each other. Your sister’s a lot stronger than you give her credit for.” Saying his piece, he left her with her guilt.

Maggie didn’t see Beth and Daryl together much those first few days. In fact, Daryl seemed to go out of his way to avoid her sister. It was only later that she realized he was dealing with his own guilt over her kidnapping, blaming himself for her ordeals at the hospital.

When they reached the Georgia border, everyone stopped their vehicles and stood in a line, silently remembering those who were no longer with them to take the journey. Amidst thinking of her father and Bob and everyone they lost at the farm, she noticed Beth and Daryl standing next to each other, staring at the sign welcoming them to South Carolina. For a second, she thought she saw them holding hands, but then Glenn pulled her into a hug and her thoughts left the present and returned to the past.

The next morning, Maggie woke to find Beth, who had fallen asleep next to her the night before, was nowhere to be found. Fear invaded her and she jumped to her feet.

“She went out hunting with Daryl,” Rick said from behind her.

Maggie spun around, an argument about the dangers involved in leaving the camp ready to launch from her lips, but Rick cut her off. “I wasn’t too happy about it either, but she insisted. And Daryl seemed alright with it.”

She didn’t argue, but she didn’t stop worrying either, not until Beth returned an hour or so later, a bright smile on her face and three rabbits hanging from a cord on her back. Daryl was a pace behind, two more rabbits in his possession.

Maggie couldn’t help but rush over to Beth and give her a hug, and if she gave Daryl a sideways glance, well, she couldn’t help that either. The fresh meat was welcome, however, and the group headed further into South Carolina with full bellies and in better moods. It wasn’t until they were nearly ready to stop for the day that Maggie realized earlier had been the first time she’d seen Beth truly smile since her rescue.

Beth and Daryl’s hunts became a daily occurance, her sister leaving her side each morning so silently that she never woke once. They still rode together during the days with Glenn, and Maggie finally worked up the courage to speak her piece about giving up on her sister. Beth said she forgave her and smiled, but it wasn’t nearly as bright as the one she wore coming back from her hunts.

They were somewhere in North Carolina when Beth stopped sleeping next to her. Maggie was a little hurt, but she’d been neglecting Glenn since Atlanta, so he kept her distracted over the next couple of days. She did notice Beth was sleeping close to Daryl now, but really didn’t put much thought into it except that such an arrangement was more convenient for their early-morning hunts.

“Beth and Daryl,” Glenn said one afternoon when they’re alone. “Unlikely pair, don’t you think?”

She had to admit the two were seemingly good friends now, not something she would have guessed developing back at the prison. So, in answer, she simply said, “I suppose,” registering but not really thinking about the look Glenn gave her.

It was a few days laters that, in retrospect, Maggie should have realized the true nature of Beth and Daryl’s relationship. They were packing the vehicles to begin the day’s trek and the two hunters were not back yet. Maggie had trained herself not to worry as much as she did before, but she was still relieved when she saw them step through the treeline. Her heart stopped, however, when she took in their appearance, both looking a bit worse for wear. Under different circumstances, she would have called them disheveled, but the word never entered her mind. Instead, worries and fears flooded her.

“Are you okay?” Maggie said, rushing up her sister, only giving Daryl a long enough glance to determine he was unhurt.

“I’m fine,” Beth said, her face flushed red.

“You look like you ran into some trouble out there,” Maggie said.

“Nothing we couldn’t handle,” Daryl said in his rumbling voice.

If anything, Beth’s face grew redder, but she assured Maggie again that she was alright.

“Okay,” Maggie said reluctantly.

Happy her sister was unhurt, Maggie didn’t give the event much more thought, although she did pause when Carl came to join her and Glenn in their vehicle, saying Beth had joined his father, Michonne and Daryl in their car.

It was soon after that their luck ran out, starting with their arrival at Noah’s former home only to find it overrun by walkers. They lost a potential safe zone and Tyreece in the same day. The decision to push on to Washington, D.C., was made more out of desperation than anything else, but at least it gave them direction.

But even that wore thin when they ran out of gas, then food and even water. Maggie and Glenn spent most of their time together, trying in vain to make up for the time they lost separated after the prison, her thinking but saying out loud that their journey may have finally reached its end. She tried to find Beth, but she always seemed to be with Daryl, the two spending more and more time hunting in vain for food or sitting quietly next to each other at the edge of the group.

Then came the storm, which they fortunately had shelter from due to Beth and Daryl finding the farm, followed by the arrival of Aaron and his promise of shelter. It took some convincing, but the group agreed to follow him to Alexandria.

When they first entered their new two-story home, Maggie couldn’t help but think of it as a ghost from a time that no longer existed. It seemed nobody know how to react. Everything was so clean and new, she wasn’t sure how she could get used to this, especially with the worry that it could all be taken away like at the prison.

But she wasn’t going to let worries get in the way of taking a hot shower. She was next in line, waiting for Beth to finish hers. Two days ago, they were literally starving in the streets and now they were fed, sheltered and protected behind strong walls. It all seemed too good to be true, but she was willing to believe for now.

The door to the bathroom opened and Beth stepped out, her hair damp, and she was dressed in a new set of clothes, which somehow made her look both older and younger than before. They hadn’t had a chance to talk since their interviews with Deanna, but her sister seemed to be settling in a little easier than most of them. It was as if her capability for hope was finally beginning to heal after everything that happened in Grady.

“Maggie,” Beth exclaimed, her voice a by higher than normal.

“Hey Bethy,” she said.

Whatever Maggie was going to say next, however, was lost when Daryl exited the bathroom. Like her sister, his hair was wet and he was wearing new clothes, although she dully noted that he still had his vest.

“Heya,” Daryl said, leaning over to give Beth a kiss on the cheek before walking past Maggie and into the kitchen.

Maggie stared at her sister, unable to form any words.

“So yeah, me and Daryl are sort of a thing now,” Beth said, giving Maggie’s shoulder a squeeze as she walked past her to follow Daryl. “Don’t dawdle too long long or somebody’s going to skip you for the shower.”

In the end, somebody did. Two, in fact. But Maggie did finally get her shower, and after that, tracked down her sister for some answers.


End file.
